Tag Archives: prioritize

How can you get everything done in a one-person business? When you look at corporations with separate departments for research and development, marketing, human resources, accounting, and more, it’s hard to imagine that a freelancer could possibly fill all those functions alone. If you focus on ROI (return on investment) and implement a few time management strategies, though, it can be done.

Consider ROI

The reality of a one-person business is that it can be messy— interruptions happen. If you have a time management plan and a few strategies in place, crises and interruptions won’t derail your productivity.

Take time to think through which of your activities gives you the highest ROI. From which business activity do you earn the most? Is it

writing a new book?

teaching a workshop?

ghostwriting a full-length book for someone else?

working on your blog so that you can connect with your audience?

editing a manuscript?

When you know which activities are most profitable, you can plan your time so that your most productive working hours are spent on those tasks, and other tasks are relegated to less productive times of day.

The 80/20 principle

For most people, 20% of what you do in your business produces about 80% of your income (Pareto principle). It’s hard to stay focused on the profitable 20%, because the other 80% — bill paying, shipping, customer service, filing, and other administrative tasks — clamors for attention, and must be done. Don’t waste your creative hours on these tasks; they are perfect for the afternoon slump when your focus is least sharp.

Divide and conquer

Once you know what your highest ROI category is, and you’ve listed the tasks that contribute to the most profitable 20% of your business, create a weekly time outline that puts the most important activities first.

My personal system for getting things done could be described as a divide and conquer method of management. Here’s how:

About

Janice Campbell has been writing and speaking about things that matter for over two decades. She’s a lifelong reader, author of the Excellence in Literature curriculum and other education resources, and Director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE). Whether teaching writers and entrepreneurs how to create a sustainable microbusiness or high school students to love literature, Janice’s focus is on lighting lamps so that others can more easily find their way.